A masterplan framework devised by Ironside Farrar on behalf of South Lanarkshire Council and University of the West of Scotland calls for wholesale redevelopment of the 7.5 acre town centre campus following the university’s relocation to an out of town technology park next year.

Fleshing out their approach at Hamilton Green Ironside Farrar wrote: “The proposed design strategy takes it’s cue from the former barracks use of the site to form a large rectangular public greenspace which provides the development with a clear central focus and the area with a civic greenspace.

“The principal / Almada St entrance to the development will take the form of a public space set back from the street and framed by apartment blocks with ground floor cafés and shops presenting strong frontages onto Almada St.”

Situated close to Hamilton West train station indicative plans place an emphasis on density, walkability and mixed-use with improved connections to the adjacent civic centre, centerpiece of which is the A-listed Lanark County Buildings.

Delivery of the full masterplan is expected to take at least 20 years.

An elongated park inspiredby parade grounds will take centrestage

The full masterplan isn't expected to complete until 2028 at the earliest

7 Comments

Hamilton, 20 years ago, used to be bustling. Then they decided to build an out of town retail park (against significant objection) on the old palace grounds. The town precinct is now one of the saddest, most desolate places in Scotland.

Now, in another remarkable act of self-sabotage, they are moving UWS from the centre of town to another business park, next to the EK expressway and with nothing nearby except a naff carvery nearby.

UWS is currently well located, next to the train station, sports centre, shops and bus routes. It could, potentially, be improved further, with the campus developed into a dense business/research hub. But, no. A shuttle bus will be laid on for students to travel out to the business park each day to attend class. WTF???

Had SLC used the vacant land around the college to locate First Direct, UWS and Babcock (who are now all on the outskirts of Blantyre), the town centre would arguably going through a renaissance with all the footfall of 20,000 students and workers.

And, that brings me to this guff. 'Urban Village' they say? THere's nothing urban or villagey about this. A few flats with a couple of poxy retail units in one block (that will probably lie empty as nobody has any reason to be in town during the day). Villages have amenities. This has a few parking spaces.

And, despite the pathetically low bar this redevelopment establishes, they aren't going to complete it for 20 years. Which really means 30 years. I could literally be 70 by the time this mediocre guff gets built.

A mediocre plan, with a disgustingly lengthy timeframe, for a site that should have been retained as a further education campus. Relocating students to the Technology Park will be a disaster for Hamilton's decaying town centre, particularly as many students don't drive and there isn't a train station anywhere near the new campus.

I honestly wonder whether our civic leaders have brains in their skulls, allowing UWS to abandon the Almada Street site that's served everyone perfectly well for decades, when they could (and should) have rebuilt and expanded it.

UWS have no interest in Hamilton - Paisley is the center of it's world and the limping, near-dead UoPaisley that came before the smashing together of Hamilton's Bell College and UoP saw the merger as a well-funded lifeline.

The ground around Almada could have made way for a number of smaller buildings allowing for small teaching areas and research areas that would more closely resemble a 'village'. The Almada building itself could then have been demolished to make way for a combined office and commercial/spin off/start up space.

The adjacent Caird building was where I thought they would go, architecturally and two more Caird-alikes woudl fit well on the plot.

Students don't want to go to some remote business park. They want to go to a university campus, in or next to a town, and near a train station. This vanity project will fail because students won't go to a business park.